A TALE OF TWO CITIES

This is a tale of two cities. The irony is they are both within the boundaries of one — the city of San Marcos.

I have long lamented the disconnect that many who live in the development known as San Elijo Hills seem to feel with San Marcos, the city in which their master-planned village resides.

The reasons for this dissociation with the city are many, but one that cannot be denied is unavoidably topography.

The northern two-thirds of San Marcos is separated from San Elijo Hills and the rest of the southern part of the city by a steep ridgeline of hills that include peaks known throughout the region as the Coronado Hills and Double Peak. With the preservationist mindset of the late 20th century in full throat and difficult terrain adding to the challenges, building a road network over these hills proved well nigh impossible.

The result was planners allowing development of virtually an entire city with only one arterial link to the rest of the town. Worse, that link was not built until several years after the project had begun and homes occupied.

Residents of those first homes found it easier to travel to neighboring cities of Encinitas and Carlsbad for their shopping and entertainment.

It didn’t help that the master developer went out of its way to avoid mentioning that San Elijo Hills was in San Marcos. To this day, signs advertising the development talk about “San Elijo Hills, USA” as if it were its own town.

This segregation from the rest of San Marcos, and the shopping and living patterns that have been created as a result, have negatively affected the city as a whole.

Poor sales are bringing about the departure of Lowe’s from the city-owned Creekside Marketplace shopping center. This is no doubt partly because of the lack of customers from the San Elijo community making the trip “over the hill,” having become more used to traveling south to shop.

The San Marcos Chamber of Commerce has had precious little impact on the business community in San Elijo Hills. I’m not sure whether it’s from a lack of effort on their part, or a lack of interest.

City leaders are trying to engage the community, but more needs to be done to reverse decadelong patterns that turned people away from the city where they reside.

It’s hard to understand why there would be reluctance to acknowledge living and doing business in a city that is recognized as one of the best-run in the region, if not the entire state; with not one, but two top-ranked public institutions of higher education; and award-winning public schools in one of the top public school districts in the state.

The pride San Elijo Hills residents have for their community should be expanded to include the entire city in which they live.

Kirk W. Effinger writes from San Marcos. Contact him at kirkinsanmarcos@att.net